1. Ryback vs. Rusev w/ Lana (Main Event 1/26/16)
There was an oddball episode of Main Event that aired on a quiet Wednesday evening in late-January that had two really great wrestling matches. This one was my favorite. Rusev has this strange chemistry with Ryback that just turns him into a superworker. Two big heavyweights throwing bombs at each other and building to a super hot finish. All wrestling matches should be like this.
2. Jack Swagger vs. Kevin Owens (Main Event 1/26/16)
Jack Swagger I’m sorry to say is one of the dullest dudes in WWE, but he can be plugged into a match like this against an over and talented heel like Owens and it will work really well. These two had a match last year that was notable for Kevin Owens’ epic shit talk, but this was notable for just how good the wrestling is. Great pacing and counters as well as the occasional and welcome Owens’ shit talk. Swagger really did hold his own here too.
3. Royal Rumble (Featuring: Roman Reigns [c], Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Kane, Mark Henry, Ryback, Neville, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, Sheamus, Alberto del Rio, Rusev, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston [w/ Big E & Xavier Woods], Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Titus O’Neil, Goldust, The Miz, Stardust, Tyler Breeze, Curtis Axel [w/ Heath Slater, Bo Dallas and Adam Rose], AJ Styles and Sami Zayn) (Rumble 1/24/16)
The Rumble’s an odd match to compare to everything else on this list, but the last few Rumbles have not been good at all so this being done so well makes it notable. The Rumble is typically fun, but this really felt like a generation change Rumble – sure Show, Kane, and Henry were there, but the only surprises were AJ Styles and Sami Zayn. This was paced well, had a good long Jericho performance, fun schennangegins with Brock Lesnar and the Wyatt Family, a breakout Social Outcasts performance, New Day being New Day, and two big time surprises and classic moments: the unknown music playing at #3 with Roman Reigns in the ring turning out to be the theme for the debuting AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn making a surprise entrance and just going at it with Kevin Owens. The finish between Reigns, Ambrose and Triple H was done really well too.
4. Last Man Standing – WWE IC Title: Dean Ambrose [c] vs. Kevin Owens (Rumble 1/24/16)
These last few months have been all about the re-awakening of Dean Ambrose, and this match cemented it. Just an absolute war and a wild way to start a pay-per-view. It’s always fun when there’s a little violence in the buttoned-up WWE. These two are absolute lunatics and had the lunatic Last Man Standing match you’d hope they’d have. Wild finish. Great stuff.
5. WWE U.S. Title: Kalisto [c] vs. Alberto del Rio (SmackDown 1/14/16)
Really fun match, and a sign of things to come for the epic 2/3 Falls match at Fast Lane Kickoff. These two took a little while to figure out each other in their early matches, but nailed the right formula here. The always impressive Kalisto against a game bad guy Del Rio, with a few well-placed big spots. Nice.
6. WWE U.S. Title: Kalisto [c] vs. Neville (SmackDown 1/28/16)
This match was notable for just how unique it was for a WWE TV match. Two guys known for their flying not just doing their standard WWE flyer spots but having a throwback WCW cruiserweight match and just tearing it up. Kind of short, but lots of fun.
7. American Alpha vs. Blake & Murphy w/ Alexa Bliss (NXT 1/27/16)
This is a great example of why NXT is so much fun. This is basically American Alpha doing their shtick and Blake & Murphy doing their shtick and it’s great. Fun basic tag match brought to another level by everybody playing their role perfectly.
8. WWE Divas Title: Charlotte [c] w/ Ric Flair vs. Becky Lynch (Rumble 1/24/16)
Oh man was this good. Becky at this point was arguably the most over babyface in WWE, and these two had a match treated seriously and given real time and they delivered. This felt like a statement match that the Four Horsewomen had arrived. Great face, great heel, lots of emotion. Great stuff.
9. Dolph Ziggler & The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown 1/21/16)
This match is a great example of a really fun WWE 6-man tag team match. It’s nothing fancy, but gets the job done as a fun crowd pleaser with New Day doing their shtick and a really hot finish with guys flying all over the place.
10. Neville vs. Kevin Owens (1/4/16)
I was initially going to put Styles/Jericho from RAW here but once I started describing it as the lowest end version of a Styles/Jericho Dream Match I started looking elsewhere. These two have crazy good chemistry; they have not had a match that wasn’t at least really good on NXT or WWE television. I think their November match in the WWE Title tournament has been my favorite, but this is great. Owens is a beast and Neville bumps and dives like a mutant.
Honorable Mention: Tomasso Ciampa vs. Danny Burch (NXT 1/13/16)
This was the best 5-minute match all month and I think deserves mention. For a couple minutes this whole thing was based around a punch. A PUNCH! It felt like a fight and was laid out really, really tight.If you’re gonna do a quick match, there are always more unique ways you can take it than a squash. Everything mattered here and the action stayed entertaining.
January started off pretty slow but closed out really strong. Other matches deserving Honorable Mention would be Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles (RAW 1/25/16), Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin Triple Threat #1 Contender’s Match (NXT 1/27/16), Dolph Ziggler/The Usos/Titus O’Neil vs. The New Day/The Miz (SmackDown (1/28/16), Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose/Chris Jericho vs. The Wyatt Family (SmackDown 1/28/16), Charlotte [c] vs. Becky Lynch for the WWE Divas Title (SmackDown 1/7/16), and Alberto del Rio [c] vs. Kalisto for the WWE U.S. Title (Rumble 1/24/16)
